03/03/2023 - “Alfred Hitchcock” narrates Mark Cousins’ latest documentary, exploring just how the Master of Suspense has continually managed to enthral audiences for a century

It’s been over 100 years since Alfred Hitchcock made his first feature (1922’s Number 13, currently lost to cinema history). In that century, he has not only become one of cinema’s greatest icons (the term “Hitchcockian” being an acceptable adjective within the lexicon of any cinema buff), but also one of its most critically and academically examined. There are books dedicated to his life and individual films, poring over Hitch’s predilection for voyeurism, his preoccupation with icy blondes and his troubled relationship with Catholicism, amongst many, many other things. His films have been dissected frame by frame, and there have been works (namely, Alexandre O Philippe’s 2017 film 78/52) that have focused solely on the 78 camera setups and 52 cuts that make up one of cinema’s most infamous moments, the shower scene in Psycho. Can Mark Cousins – playful documentarian and inveterate cinephile that he is – really find something new to say about the Master of Suspense in his latest film, My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock, which has just had its UK premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival?

Alfred Hitchcock (in reality the well-known British impressionist Alistair McGowan, delivering an uncannily pitch-perfect vocal recreation of the director) walks us through numerous scenes plucked from his legendary oeuvre all grouped under six chapters – amongst them “Escape”, “Desire” and “Time”. Whilst the “greatest works” of his canon are all present and correct – with moments from the likes of Vertigo, Psycho and North by Northwest – the film gives equal weight to his lesser-known works, including much from the silent era. Commenting on his life, the cinematic tricks he employed and his desire to entertain (as well as manipulate) his devoted audience, Hitchcock makes us examine his work anew.

Those familiar with Cousins’ previous movies – such as The Story of Film [+see also:
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The film’s central gimmick – Hitchcock narrating his own documentary – might seem to drift into the arena of the indulgence of which Cousins is sometimes accused. While there are moments that grate (the constant cuts to stills of Hitchcock begin to wear thin), the narration becomes part and parcel of the entire persona and mythos that was built up around Hitchcock as both a person and an artist. As a striking and well-known public figure – a status rarely afforded to those working behind the camera – Hitchcock’s mildly comedic public persona reflected the playfulness of his films, the constant playing with reality and audience manipulation. But one feels that Cousins is also reminding us of Hitch’s humanity. With his work being so thoroughly analysed throughout cinema history, he and his films have acquired a mythical status, which has served to distance us from his movies: they are there to be admired on a technical level, rather than experienced as a fan. The reminder of Hitchcock as a person (the narration being something that one thinks Hitchcock himself would have tacitly approved of, with its playful insouciance) reclaims his work from some of the drier and dustier corners of film academia.

My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock is a UK film produced by Hopscotch Films. Its international sales are handled by Dogwoof.